What do you do with your heart?

Peace Street

Sign at Camp Wilbur Stover. Photo by Laura Hay


At campfire one night, a little girl was playing around – pulling the strings of my sweater and moving my hand around to touch my face. She suddenly moved my hand to her chest. She breathed deep.

“Ask me what do I do with my heart?” She said.

“What do you do with your heart?” I replied, curious as to what she meant.

“I don’t know. I’m trying to think in my body.”

This girl was about 4 years old. I don’t know what prompted the question or if she was really thinking about the answer, but I think it is a question all of Camp Stover has been asking this week. What do we do with our hearts? If God’s love really can encompass more than we could possibly imagine, what do we do with our hearts? If God is bigger than we think, what do we do with our hearts? What groups of people have we been excluding from our love because we haven’t believed God is truly bigger than our differences? How can we even begin to try to express that type of love to the world? To love so much can feel like an overwhelming task. It sounds like too large of a task; it sounds exhausting, not to mention stronger and bigger than us.

In a Bible study I attended, we were talking about prayer and the ways we pray. In one Bible verse we read, Jesus prayed for those around him – clarifying that he was not praying for the whole world but just for those people God had given to him. What do we do with our hearts? Maybe we should share them with those people God has given to us to love. We will have differences and hardships, but our job is to love one another.

When we talk about what it means to be peaceful, I think sometimes we take the conversation to extremes: no wars – wow, what a big answer! Or sitting in silence – what a small step! But maybe it would be more beneficial to talk about peace in a practical sense. I love talking in extremes, don’t get me wrong. I think we all do. But if we recognize that God gives us certain people, the people in our lives who we can love and learn peace with, then we are truly doing our best to follow in the way of Jesus.

Visiting Camp Stover yielded many joyous conversations. Some were complicated and others simple, but I think the most profound question I heard all week was: “What do you do with your heart?”

By Laura Hay, Youth Peace Advocate

Everyone counts

2013 Advent good_news_hi_res   Matthew 1:3-6

Prayer for the day:
O God, in whose image we are created, help us not to judge others, and instead try to see your light in everyone we meet. We acknowledge this isn’t always easy, so give us grace-filled hearts to recognize that all people count in your eyes.
Amen

Question for reflection:
Who are the people who have influenced your life? How have they done so? Have you shared with them how meaningful their influence has been?

~ Kim Ebersole, Director of Family Life and Older Adult Ministries

Congregational Life Ministries of the Church of the Brethren is offering these simple prayers and questions in connection to this year’s Advent Devotional written by Tim Harvey, pastor of Central Church of the Brethren (Available from Brethren Press in print and E-Book formats). Join us as we look and listen for the coming of the Word through the reading of scripture, Tim’s reflections, times of prayer, and conversations on this blog.

 

Chosen and Precious

A Community of Love   1Peter 2: 4-10

Prayer for the Day:
Thank you, Lord, that my heart and my feelings matter to you.  They always have . . . but now it’s beginning to sink in. It’s one thing to believe it in your head – quite another to discover this is true.  Thank you that I can invite you into the midst of any upsetting situation and you quiet me with your presence and affirm our relationship together.  Remind me that I am loved and accepted even when I’m upset. Your comfort allows me to see things from Your perspective and not the pain-clouded perceptions of my distress. I am overwhelmed by your goodness!

Question for reflection:
Have there been times when you felt that God disregarded your pain and your struggles? How did you feel?  What is God calling you to do in difficult situations?

~ Randi Rowan, Program Assistant, Congregational Life Ministries

Congregational Life Ministries of the Church of the Brethren is offering these simple prayers and questions in connection to this year’s Lent devotional written by Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford. (Available from Brethren Press) Join us as we look and listen for the coming of the Word through the reading of scripture, Cheryl’s reflections, times of prayer, and conversations on this blog.